The Shadow of the Season
by Wrecksauce
Summary: Shepard's turning the Normandy in, along with herself. Leaving the rest of the crew the job of gaining support from the other races, but Garrus' trouble isn't just with facing the Hierarchy, it's facing his father, and his sister after all these years of staying far away from them. And doing it all without Shepard...he's not sure if he can.


**A/N: This story addresses the time in Between the ME2 and ME3, I'd like the do multiple POVs but it's going to center around this pairing, the best pairing of course. **

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She was turning herself in, he couldn't believe it, after all this time running from the galaxy, doing things on their own terms, she was letting everything go to the Alliance. Her ship, probably her rank, and for all he knew every chance at stopping the Reapers, because he knew about military bureaucracy.  
When he'd heard the news Garrus had barged past a sheepish Tali and towards Shepard's quarters, where he knew she'd be, where she always was when she wanted time to herself. She would feed the hamster, or the fish, or read a book with the sound system on, it was coping mechanism designed to make sure she couldn't think about what was troubling her. As the elevator neared the top floor he mulled over what he was going to say, what he wanted to ask, _how exactly _he was going to ask it, eventually deciding that he just needed to get it out in the open air. When the door opened to Shepard's quarters however, the weak plan that he'd had was blown away. She was actually _crying_, he hadn't seen her cry since the alpha relay incident, and that was bad, so he figured this must be just as bad, he knew how much she valued this ship, and her team, and _him_, and to lose it must have been heart wrenching for her, his own heart wrenched at the thought.

He couldn't see her face as he approached, but he could see the trembling, hear the sobs, he wondered whether she just needed time, or maybe if she would tell him to leave if he tried to talk to her. He threw caution to the wind and went up to the side of the bed, the side he usually slept on, and sat down on it, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he knew he wasn't expecting Shepard launching herself at him, holding onto him like he was a rock in a strong current. He could feel the shaking through his plates, she was either angry enough to take on every Krogan on Tuchanka, or on the edge of emotional break-down, either of which would require him, and only him, to help her calm down.

For an indeterminate amount of time he simply sat, holding onto her, rubbing her back slowly, as if trying to rub the emotions out, as if they would be visible to everyone on the ship. If she were out in the CIC he knew she would have her 'Commander Shepard' mask on, the mask that gave away nothing, the mask that allowed her crew to rally around her as a symbol of hope. He knew better, he knew Rosa Shepard, the girl who'd been orphaned on Mindoir, who'd watched her entire squad die on Akuze only to be promoted for it, he knew that he was what she was to rest of the crew, someone to rally around, someone to watch her back. _Just like old times_.

"Sorry about the Thanix" she murmured into his shoulder, it was a typical Shepard thing, apologize to everyone else even though she was forced into a corner and had no other option. He'd seen it happen before, when she came back from the dead most notably.

"I was more worried about you, actually" he said, sub-harmonics rumbling with worry, their voices were so low that he doubted they carried to even the steps to the next tier of her room, let alone the door.

"You sure?" Shepard somehow managed a smile, looking up at him with those expressive green eyes, the ones he often had slightly scary dreams about, the dreams that made her laugh so much she had to catch her breath afterwards.

"You might have to re-calibrate them" she was grinning now, the sadness was still in the eyes, but at least Garrus felt like he was making head-way.

"Oh, don't remind me" he feigned annoyance, "those damn Alliance techs wouldn't know proper gun maintenance if they fell over it" he used one of Shepard's idioms, not like Turians had any to use.

"I'm sure it's nothing you can't fix" she punched his shoulder lightly, it was another way of telling him 'shut up you big, stupid Turian'. He rubbed the spot as if it had hurt, making a half-hearted 'ouch' noise.  
They lapsed into a heavy silence, Garrus wanted to press the issue, he wanted to make sure she was okay, but the deflections she presented his efforts with told him to leave it alone, to wait until she was ready to talk. So he settled for holding her against his chest, he let his fingers drift idly through her hair, bringing out the knots she was always so intent on pulling at whenever she was frustrated, before he rejoined the Normandy he had never thought of frustrated humans as _cute_, but Shepard's frustrated movements definitely were.

"I wish there were another way, Garrus" she said eventually, leaning more heavily into his side, "but I need to stand trial, it's the only way to get people to listen". If Garrus hadn't just come back from a supposed suicide mission with her he would have told her she was wrong, that there was another way, that there had to be, putting the galaxy's only apparent hope on trial was just _wrong_.

"They're morons" he said, making her snort, something else he found inherently cute.

"What? You expecting them to just let it go? The Batarians would go to war if the Alliance did nothing about it" she was right, of course, she was rarely wrong, but it still made his plates itch.

"The Batarians should be the last thing on their list of things to worry about" he replied, she sighed, she knew he was right to, but that was just common sense he was talking, something that the Alliance seemed to be missing at the moment.

"They're just scared, Garrus. They want to pretend that nothing is going to happen and go about their lives as if that's true, they don't want anything shaking up the galaxy" she said, Garrus couldn't help but compare her to the wise people of old that his mother had always talked about, the ones that could pick out people's flaws and use it to say nobody is really to blame, it's just in their nature to not listen to extreme ideas.

"That's going to go really well for them when the galaxy shakers turn up" he said, allowing his ever-present cynical side to take over again, he couldn't see the point in being optimistic at this point.

"And that's why I have to convince them to _be _ready, I've got Anderson and Hackett on my side, they knew the stakes even before the alpha relay incident" Garrus supposed he had to give her that, Anderson would defend her to the end, even if she'd taken his ship back in the day. He wasn't so sure about Hackett, if he could have just pulled his finger out of his ass and done it himself Shepard would have had nothing to do with the Alpha relay.

"Even then…that's a lot of humans you have to convince" he stated the obvious, something she hated him doing, because the obvious was usually the thing that hurt the most.

"Always an optimist" she said simply, holding his scared mandible in her hand, tracing the lines left in the surface by the gunship, the only physical reminder of his time on Omega, and of his squad.

"What was it the Ash always said? 'A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist?'" he said, Shepard smiled at him.

"Something like that" she pressed a kiss onto his mouth, he reciprocated, holding her there for a moment, just the two of them, no Reapers. He held these moments high, as precious things, if they became physical moments in time afterwards that he could touch he would keep them in a glass case so he could look at them every day as a sort of motivation. The kiss lasted longer than usual, he knew that they were dancing around the issue that made his heart pound against his chest, maybe it was because both of them knew exactly what was going to happen.

"And what about me?" he asked, the question slipped off his tongue before he could dress it properly, leaving it with no padding, raw. She tensed for a second, her eyes locking into his, green and emotional, it was like she was laying her feelings out for him to see in two bright orbs.

"You need to go home, Garrus" the reply was so blunt, so brusque that it hurt. He pulled back and stared at her, hard, his gaze unmoving and hurt, oh so hurt.

"If you think I'm leaving you to face this alone…" she silenced him with a hand on his mouth, but he held it in both of his and moved it away, "I'm not losing you again" _never again_. She nodded, her expression becoming more and more troubled, he wanted to take the troubles away, but he couldn't, because she was sending him away.

"I can't convince everyone, Garrus" she said, eyes locking with his again, he tried to look elsewhere but she pulled his head back around and held it, by the chin. "If I'm…well…locked up on Earth I can't communicate to the Hierarchy, and I know the Alliance won't do it" Garrus hated that she was right, again. He was lucky that they didn't have an 'I was right count' to go along with the headshot one.

They looked into each other's eyes for what felt like minutes, when it was in fact a few seconds, it was like they were searching each-other's soles to see whether they were being sincere or not. Garrus didn't know what to say, he knew she was right, but he didn't want to leave her, and going home would mean having to face his father, after all these years, which was more terrifying than the Primarch and his honour guard.

"When the Reapers come…" he stopped and composed himself, Reapers still seemed too big to be true sometimes, "when they come, I'll be there. You're not facing this alone" she nodded, smiling again now, but it was a sad smile, one that spoke of how unfair she thought this was, he knew about that too, there was little he didn't know about.

"No Shepard without Vakarian" she said and then her smile grew warm, "wouldn't want to start the headshot count without you around, I doubt you'd ever catch up" she stuck her tongue out at him, more of the Rosa Shepard she reserved for him, playful, something that nobody else saw, he chuckled.

"Now, Shepard, I think we both know that for every one you get I get three" he flared his mandibles into the smile he knew she liked, toothy Turian grins were a specialty of his.

"That was just one time!" she spluttered, trying to talk through laughter, which again was strangely adorable.

"One time more than you've ever done it" he replied, expecting the playful punch that landed on the same spot on his shoulder.

"Next time I find a row of Geth standing one behind the other I'll let you know" she was still laughing, the tears coming from her eyes now were happier though, he savored moments like this too.

"Right" he said "'lined up'. I'll have you know that they ran into that position just before I pulled the trigger" he found himself laughing with her.

"Uhuh" Shepard said, the last of her laughter fading out finally, "we'll see who gets the last laugh on this one Vakarian" sometimes Garrus could have sworn she forgot how Turians didn't understand idioms.

"I think I stopped laughing after you there" he pointed out, earning him another hit.

"I mean who gets the largest score when this is all over, silly" she grinned again, looking up at him.

"Right" Garrus drew the word out to show he understood in the most sarcastic way possible, "for my birthday you're going to have to get a book on those expressions of yours, you know, so I can keep up" he said, looking back down at her.

"That'd be about the only thing you could keep up with me on" she shot back at him. He feigned hurt again, clutching at where his heart was and falling backwards onto the bed as if he'd been shot.

"Low blow" he said eventually, once his theatrics were completed, Shepard pursed her lips and shook her head at him, her eyes were telling of joy though, he knew she loved spending time like this as much as he did.

"Oh, that's delicate territory, is it?" she teased, rubbing the spot under his fringe that made him crazy, "like there?" she laughed when he let a low groan out.

"Don't make me jab your sides" he warned with a lower tone to his voice, Shepard laughed and pretended to scramble to the other side of the bed, only for Garrus to 'catch' her and jab the soft skin just below her ribs with his fingers. She did that flailing thing he loved so much, where she tensed up and her arms and legs seemed to lose control for a moment. By the time he was finished they were both howling with laughter, it was as if the Shepard he'd seen when he'd entered the room was gone, only to be replaced by a happier, joyful one that he could fall in love with over-and-over again.

They were eventually reduced to lying next to each-other, hands linked together, smiling contentedly, even though they knew this was probably the last time they would be together alone before they reached the citadel, where he'd have to say goodbye.

"I'm okay now" Shepard said eventually, her voice so quiet Garrus almost didn't hear her. He squeezed her hand a little, she squeezed back, he believed her now, she was ready to do this, the home stretch before they would start getting ready for the Reapers.

"Good" he replied after a few seconds of silence, "because we need clear heads for this" he saw her nod slightly in his peripherals, a small movement, smooth, not jerky. They past the rest of the night in silence, slowly drifting into sleep, they didn't even get changed, they didn't want to ruin this moment, because nothing was going to take this moment away from either of them, not even the Reapers.


End file.
